


I Don’t Wanna Think About It I Just Wanna Get Down

by luoup (ravenic)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, RWBY Big Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-25 00:52:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9795053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenic/pseuds/luoup
Summary: There is an unofficial underground dance competition coming up, and it’s the perfect place for the new-found team Juniper, to prove itself.  Jaune Arc wants to show that he is good enough, proving that he really is one of the famous Arc family.  World-renowned dancer Pyrrha Nikos wants to dance for herself and find her purpose again.  Orphans Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren want to do the one thing they love more than anything in the world.But they are going up against rival team GRIMM, a formidable opponent, and all may not end well on the dance floor.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i've been wanted to do a rwby dance au for approximately a million years. this mess is the result. 
> 
> (i listened to way too much sia writing this oops)
> 
> done for the rwby big bang, +   
> [art](http://starsarts.tumblr.com/post/157330507868/scorpiau) art by starsarts! 
> 
> MAJOR EDITS AND THE ACTUAL DARN ENDING WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW  
> I AM SORRY FOR BEING DISORGANIZED

_I’m Free to Be the Greatest, I’m Alive_

Jaune loved dancing, really, and he loved Beacon, but Goodwitch was the hardest teacher he had ever had in his life and it was quite possible that he was actually literally going to pass out within the next five minutes. Thank god class was over.

He tried to slow his breathing and seem less like he was on the verge of falling down as he wandered down the hall, taking sips of water from his sister’s stolen water bottle as he went (he had learned the hard way not to drink too fast after a class, especially if it was one of Goodwitch’s). It was a Wednesday, so his friend was likely–

Jaune peeked through the door into Studio 4, and was rewarded with being correct.

Sia’s _Unstoppable_ rippled through the air. Pyrra was flying, moving across the empty studio like she weighed nothing. Thursdays were her free practice, and of course the world-famous dancer got a space all to herself to work in. When she wasn’t concentrating so hard on controlling every single thing about herself and her body, her movement, her _aura,_ Pyrrha Nikos was a beautiful dancer. She relaxed, something that was way too rare for an eighteen-year-old girl, and it was easy to tell, just by watching her, that this was where she was really happy. None of the massive audiences, no spotlights, no cameras. Just Pyrrha in a brown tank top, dancing to empty mirrors as any song she wanted reverberated across the space.

The song ended, and there was a second of silence, Pyrrha’s hard breaths the only sound, before applause burst out, making both her and Jaune jump.

Nora and Ren had come up behind Jaune completely unheard (normal for Ren, surprising for Nora). “That was nice!” Nora exclaimed, bounding into the studio. “Was it choreographed?”

Recovering from the surprise audience, Pyrrha smiled, shaking her head. “No, I did all my work earlier. Just dancing.”

“Cool! It looked really good!” Nora was already distracted, opening Pyrrha’s phone and scrolling through her dance playlist.

“Glad to see you ‘just dancing,’” Ren noted drily, following his pseudo-sister into the studio. “I like it better.”

“Me too,” Jaune said, closing the studio door behind him. Honestly, Pyrrha needed all the “just dancing” that she could get. Who would have thought that a famous dancer would ever have needed that?

Nora glanced up, a mischievous smile spreading across her face. “Wanna do it again?” At Pyrrha’s nod as she drank some water, the shorter girl pressed play and yanked off her jacket. “Then let’s go!”

It was Nora, so the music that started up was _A Little Party Never Killed Nobody._ Nothing heavy, just something to dance to. They could practice later, work hard, focus, all later. For now, well, a little party never killed nobody, and considering that Pyrrha was going to be at a show all weekend and Ren and Nora had work for the next three days, Juniper could really stand to have some party.

* * *

_So Peel Away the Bark_  
Ozpin wasn’t blind. He knew about the underground VYTAL dance competition, knew that many of his students competed in it. It… might or might not be entirely legal, and Ozpin didn’t trust Salem, who he knew played a major role in backing some of the teams, as far as he could throw her (or rather, as far as she could throw him), but in the end, it was dance. He’d done similar things, back when he was young and wild.

Coco’s gang came and went, now, but they hadn’t missed a VYTAL for years and he doubted that they would start now. They would be there. Whether they entered in the structured tournament part or just showed up to intimidate all the “dance babies” as Coco called them, was up in the air, but the team nicknamed Caffeine would definitely be present in one form or another.

Ozpin knew his students, and it was almost certain that Yang Xiao Long’s competitive spirit would result in her showing up for the party. Where Yang went, Blake Belladonna followed, a quiet shadow but absolutely unmissable for her fascinating dance style. Yang’s little sister Ruby Rose, who had recently been accepted into Beacon’s higher-level programs for her exceptional skill level, was also guaranteed to follow her big sister, and if conditions were right she might even drag along her new best friend (or rival, depending on what teacher was talking) Weiss Schnee. If Weiss didn’t open up her perceptions and beliefs about the dance world soon, VYTAL was going to be something of a slap in the face for the girl, but Ozpin had faith that the girl would learn, and all the faster from her new group of friends.

The interesting one was the new boy. Jaune Arc, from a famous dancing family but… not terribly impressive on his own. Yet. But within moments, it seemed, he had befriended Pyrrha Nikos, who came to Beacon to practice on her own between stricter choreography work at her own home studio. And if Pyrrha hadn’t been enough, Jaune had then gone on to get past the near-impenetrable wall of Nora-and-Ren that few had ever even tried to break down. The four were an unusual bunch to say the least, but from what Bart had overheard from the students last week, the newly-formed team Juniper had entered into the tiered VYTAL tournament.  
From his upper-floor office window, Ozpin could see them walking down the street. They were all together, not looking like they were about to part, so they were probably going to dinner all together.

Juniper was a good thing. Jaune seemed to be the leader – he needed the confidence. And all three of the others could teach him a lot in dancing, they would be a powerful aid to him. Pyrrha was famous, but even Ozpin, who barely interacted with her, could see that dance had become a strain to her rather than a joy. This group might change that, might save her before she was too far gone. Ren and Nora, Ozpin knew far too well, had nothing at all besides the studio. They worked so hard, but they needed friends, people they could rely on besides each other. They had let Jaune and Pyrrha in to a level no one had gotten to before; it was a start.  
They might not look like much, but Ozpin knew a good team when he saw one. And Juniper was shaping up to be certainly something.

* * *

_Hold on While We Weather the Storm_

Team dinner had been fun, but it was a Wednesday and they all had early starts tomorrow. Jaune, Nora, and Ren had school, and Pyrrha’s training began much earlier than Jaune thought was humanly acceptable, although she didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

Night was falling when they finally separated. It wouldn’t be for long – they were meeting the next day as soon as Jaune was able to leave school, Ren and Nora finished assisting with Oobleck’s beginner class, and Pyrrha got out of afternoon training. Then they parted, going their own ways for the night.

*

Jaune didn’t have a car, but Orianne was willing to come get him. She listened in amusement as her brother excitedly described his day with his team, talking through the routines she already knew from previous stories.

Dance was taking up a lot of her brother’s time. A _lot._ But Orianne couldn’t find it in herself to be mad about it, because she hadn’t seen him this excited about anything since… ever. He was happy. He was motivated. He was also way stressed about something, but he wouldn’t tell her what it was. But his team seemed good, and she thought that maybe this would be good for him, even if she was struggling to understand how Jaune of all people was dancing - the boy had two left feet, if not seven. Of all the siblings, Jaune was one who didn’t really have a _thing_ yet, so this was nice.

She was happy for him.

*

Pyrrha’s manager came to pick her up. She secretly thought that she didn’t have a car because he was afraid that it would give her too much freedom, since she made her family enough money that they could certainly have afforded to buy their daughter a car if they so desired.

It wasn’t that bad, she reminded herself, riding in the backseat in silence. Sure, her parents felt more like fans or superior managers rather than family. Sure, she had almost no interactions with anyone who wasn’t instructing her or organizing her events. But she had a family that cared about her even if they were distant. She had a home and was able to live more than comfortably, and her parents didn’t even have to work because she was so successful. Everything was fine.

Nevermind that she hardly ever spoke to anyone. Nevermind that her time was always filled with training and more training. Nevermind that she had lost most of her love for dance long ago, and what was left was only holding on because of Juniper and what the team gave her.

Pyrrha Nikos had nothing to complain about. She watched the city passing by outside the car light up for the night and ran through her newest routine in her mind.

*

Ren and Nora walked back home together. Well. Not home, exactly, but it was where they lived. Semantics.

The orphanage had turned its lights on, gleaming through the darkness. It was late enough that the building was mostly quiet, and the two were able to creep back in through the back door without being noticed.

It always felt a little like a culture shock, going from Beacon back to the orphanage. At Beacon, there were Jaune and Pyrrha, and Team RWBY, and the teachers, who probably knew more about Ren and Nora than the orphanage caretakers did. Here, there was… nothing. Nobody. They spent as much time as physically possible at Beacon Studio because there really was nothing else for them. Well. Now there was Juniper, too. But even that was intertwined with the studio. Even more reason to stay there when possible, and not here.

Also, Ren and Nora were growing up. Soon, they would be told in the most polite terms possible that they were too old and had to leave the orphanage. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – again, nothing they cared about was here – but also: where were they going to go? What kind of apartment would accept two eighteen-year-olds with no parental cosigners or background or support? A problem for a later time (neither of them wanted to think about that time).

They were supposed to stay in different rooms – some silly rule about boys and girls – but that had never stopped Nora from sneaking across the hall and climbing into Ren’s bed most nights, and stepping on any of the other boys in the room who had anything to say about it.

It was dark but neither of them wanted to sleep, so Nora dug the old iPod out of her pocket, passing one earbud to Ren who took it without question. The easiest way to tell Nora’s thoughts was by her music choices, so he knew when she put _Queen of Peace_ on that she was feeling a little melancholy. He didn’t say anything, just pulled her closer, but she knew what he meant. She always did.

* * *

_Seven Devils All Around Me_

As tradition dictated, the best of all the pre-VYTAL parties was hosted by Coco Adel. The whole world, it seemed, was invited, and woe betide the one who refused. It was an opportunity to relax and have fun in the midst of tournament-preparation stress, but it was also a chance to scope out the rival teams and ask around about anything that one might need to know.

Also, nobody refused Coco, for fear of incurring the wrath of Caffeine and the Adel herself.

So of course, Coco’s party was where Juniper was going to see GRIMM for the first time.

They were nervous. They had heard stories – everyone had heard the stories – and GRIMM was enough to make anyone a little bit unnerved, with the face-masking costumes and the creepy copycat fans, but there were also the rumors that GRIMM had developed a fixation upon Juniper. Despite all the stories and rumors, though, Juniper had never actually seen the other team. Until now.

Even though the party was absolutely packed, as any of Coco’s parties were, GRIMM was easily distinguished from the crowd, standing out through the flashing lights and seething bodies. They wore their masks even in the party, never dropping their stage facades.

Draco was the leader, a tall girl with great horns arcing above her bone-white reptilian skull mask. Looking at her, Pyrrha was reminded of nothing more than a crocodile lying in wait. She wouldn’t stop watching Pyrrha, no matter where she went, and just kept smiling. Pyrrha was, for the most part, a relatively fearless person, but this girl – all of GRIMM, really – unnerved her like little else did.

Draco may have been the tallest, but Ursa was the biggest in all of GRIMM; only Boarbatusk came close to her sheer size. She towered over Nora, but when the Valkyrie met the narrowed eyes behind the massive bear-skull mask obscuring the other girl’s face, Nora felt no fear, only anticipation of going up against her. It would be like climbing a mountain, and Nora was going to win.

Ren had learned years ago to notice when someone was looking at him. The Taijitu twins sent that radar into overdrive, but he gave as good as he got, never looking away when he caught one staring. Not until they blinked first. It was hard to see their faces behind the broad flat snake-skull masks both wore, but Ren always knew. The two might as well have been one person, body and clothes and hair exactly identical, but one mask was black and the other was white, and Ren made sure that he always knew where both were standing. Can’t let a snake sneak up on you, especially when it has two heads.

Scorpio was aggressive, even moreso than Beowolf. He was always too close to Jaune, moving in flicker-flashes like a grenade about to go off. His snowy white mask, shaped almost like a centipede’s head with pincer-like parts arcing from the bottom edge, and the brilliant shining pendant around his neck like a drop of molten gold, were the only marks of color on him, everything else solid unbroken black, even the gloves covering his hands. The Taijitu twins were the snake ones, but Scorpio seemed the most venomous of them all, to Jaune.

Through the whole party, they watched Juniper. Other groups were dancing, challenging one another in play-battles that let them simultaneously show off and test their rivals, but GRIMM never approached Juniper. All night, they did nothing but watch.

It stressed them out, more than they wanted to admit. RWBY had figured it out pretty quickly, and for the latter part of the night none of Juniper was ever alone, always surrounded by other members of their team or of Ruby’s. Yang threatened to go punch Draco’s mask right off her face, but Pyrrha and Ruby together managed to keep her from acting on her words.

The other team wasn’t doing anything. They were just watching. It wasn’t a big deal. So what, they wouldn’t stop staring at Juniper. So what, they had a reputation for playing dirty and being aggressive and dangerous. So what, there were rumors circulating that they had it out for the fledgeling team. They were just being creepy.

At one point in the night, Coco herself came over and asked if they wanted her to kick GRIMM out. She had heard the gossip herself, of course, and was apparently more worried than she wanted to let on for the team she had spontaneously adopted. It said a lot, that the other crew leader was willing to cause such a fuss as kicking out an entire team for being weird at another, but she was ready and willing to do it, for them.

Juniper refused. They didn't want to stir things up like that, Pyrrha said. It would only make it worse, Ren said. The others weren’t doing anything, Jaune said. They could handle it, Nora said.

Coco looked at them like she could read their minds, but she didn’t comment. She told them to come find her if GRIMM did anything worse, and then she left to find her team.

GRIMM watched Juniper for the rest of the party.

* * *

_We All Need Someone to Lean On_

The events of the party (or maybe the lack of events – it had only made it worse that GRIMM hadn’t done anything but stare) knocked them all off balance and hammered home the point that VYTAL was rapidly approaching and that Juniper was not ready, either for a tournament or a frighteningly unexpected intense rivalry.

It was a heavy strain. Pyrrha, already practicing almost 24/7 to keep up with both her own routines and work with Juniper, was dancing almost constantly. Ren and Nora hardly ever left the studio, assisting with Beacon classes and training each other between. Jaune made dance notes in the margins of his chemistry notebook at school and ran through routines in his head instead of reading his history textbook and spent all his time from end-of-school to dinnertime at Beacon, working himself to exhaustion beside his team.

They were stretching themselves thin, splintering from stress and definitely practicing too much, but they couldn’t do anything otherwise. GRIMM was waiting, and if Juniper wasn’t ready, they would eat them alive.

It was a Friday, probably. The days kind of blurred. All that mattered was that VYTAL was soon – too soon. So wrapped up in training, practicing over and over again, tightening details and altering moves, Juniper didn’t notice what time it was until Oobleck knocked on the side of the doorframe, leaning his head into the room. “We are closing the studio soon,” he noted, not commenting on the frankly exhausted-looking students, “so you may want to pack up soon.”

The four stared at him. Then Pyrrha swore loudly and bolted over to her bag, fumbling her phone out and cursing more when she saw the two missed calls and seven texts from her mother. “Oh –” she stared at the screen. “I – we – how is it so _late?”_

Jaune was reacting the same way, staring at the strings of texts from both parents and the first three sisters. “Heck,” he said eloquently. “I’m sorry guys,” he added, looking up at the other three, “I didn’t mean for us to stay this late. We didn’t even tell our parents, Mom is so pissed holy shit…” he trailed off, staring at the tiny screen in apprehension.

Nora had plunked herself down to gulp some water from her bright pink water bottle. Ren wandered over and took it before she could give herself a stomach cramp and sat down to dig his shoes out of his bag. “It’s fine,” he reassured the team leader.

“Besides,” Nora added, trying and failing to get her water bottle back, “it’s not like anyone’s gonna notice.”

Pyrrha stilled from her frenetic reassuring texts to her mother. “What?”

Nora waved one hand dismissively. “The orphanage. We’re not in trouble, ’cause they won’t have noticed me and Ren being gone.”

“But…” Jaune was stuck halfway in his sweater. “But you’ve been gone since this morning at school. How –”

“There are a lot of kids there,” Ren said, tying his second shoe and passing Nora hers. “They don’t have the time to check on everyone there, and beside we aren’t the most difficult ones. Even though Nora’s loud and starts fights, they probably won’t have noticed our absence.”

Pyrrha pressed her forehead against one knee, not looking at the response text lighting up her phone, muttering something like, “I wish.”

Jaune just stared. “Not at all? Nobody would have noticed?”

“Like Ren said,” Nora said, trying to put her shoe on the wrong foot until Ren corrected her, “there’s a lot of people there.”

“There’s a lot of people in my family!” Jaune frowned. “They notice.”

“That’s different.”

Jaune seemed disturbed by Nora and Ren’s nonchalance. He watched them, his frown deepening every time he glanced over at Pyrrha’s clearly miserable body language as she texted her mother.

“Okay,” he announced, and they all looked at him. Jaune rarely sounded authoritative like that. “How about we all spend the night at my house.”

“What.” Ren seemed equal parts puzzled and disbelieving. Nora and Pyrrha looked just as lost.

“Look.” Jaune seemed to be gaining steam with his randomly-occurring idea. “Pyrrha, your parents will probably calm down if you say you’re staying with some dance friends and you’re going to work on your routines. Ren and Nora, you won’t have to answer any questions if they do end up wondering why you’re home so late, and also I want you to come home with me because it is really not okay that nobody would even notice that you’re gone. Plus, my mom might not kill me if I bring you all back with me. She loves guests.”

It was silly – kind of ridiculous, really – but it was not a bad plan. And, although nobody said it, neither Pyrrha, Ren, or Nora wanted to go back to their houses. Spending the night with friends, at a house that sounded like a good place, was… very drawing, even if it was last-minute and kind of absurd.

So they did it.

*

Mrs. Arc was clearly irritated at her son for staying gone so long without telling her, but she softened significantly at the appearance of visitors. She fed them all, not taking their awkward hesitant excuses for an answer, and then shooed them off to do, in her words, “teenage things.”

Once they had all piled into a room upstairs with a TV and no sisters occupying it, Jaune shut the door and leaned against it, letting out an exaggerated sigh. “Thank god you guys came with,” he said, peeling himself off the door. “Mom would have really let me have it if you all hadn’t distracted her.”

Pyrrha had a weird look on her face. She had looked like she had been thinking hard all through dinner, and the look hadn’t gone away. But before she could say anything, Nora bounced over to the TV and started systematically pulling out all the DVDs from their shelf. “Let’s watch a movie!” she squeaked, and none of them could say no to her.

They might be the lamest teenagers in the world, practicing until the sun went down and then staying in and watching movies, but it did mean that they could stay up later without having to get up early for school the next day. So they watched one movie after another, and eventually it was dark and quiet in the house and the TV was playing something unimportant at low volume and they were all sleepy and tired in more ways than one, and the walls between them weren’t quite so strong or so high.

“I don’t want to go home,” Pyrrha mumbled, and although none of the others moved, she knew that they were listening. “All that matters is my dancing. If I’m not practicing, my parents ask why not. I don’t – I don’t even know if I like dancing anymore. It’s not what I love – it’s just what I do. It’s just… it’s just work. I don’t enjoy it anymore.”

A pause, and suddenly she was stammering again. “I – I mean, I do! I like dancing with you all! I just – I don’t like it other than that. Dancing with Juniper is fun, but… it’s the only time it’s fun, now.”

“Dance is all we have,” Ren said quietly. “Nora and I – there’s nothing for us at the orphanage. They only know Nora because she gets in trouble, and… I’m pretty sure most of the caretakers don’t even know that I’m there. It’s the same at school. We don’t have any friends outside of Beacon Studio. They only notice Nora when they want her to sit still and be quiet, and they don’t notice me at all. Dance is all that there is for us in the whole world.”

“I’m not good enough,” Jaune blurted. “My family is full of famous dancers, but I have two left feet and can’t remember choreography like at all. I don’t know how I got into Beacon. I don’t know why I’m supposed to be in charge of the team. Pyrrha, you’re the only one of us with proper training, and Ren and Nora, you’re the ones who have the drive. I – I don’t even know what I’m doing, dance and otherwise, and now we’re in VYTAL, and GRIMM has it out for us and I don’t know why, besides Pyrrha we aren’t even noticeable, but they hate us and it’s honestly kind of stressful, and I feel like I’m responsible and I need to be good enough for you guys and I don’t know if I can and –”

“Jaune.” Nora shushed her friend by plastering a hand over his face. “It’s okay. We’re okay. You’re good enough for us. I know that Ren and I don’t know what we’re doing half the time, and a blind hedgehog could tell that Pyrrha’s better than any of us – she’s famous, Jaune! That’s gonna happen! But,” she said, dropping to a seriousness rarely shown, “she’s one quarter of this team. And you are another quarter. And Ren and I are the other half. None of us are any more important than any of the others. That’s what makes us a team.”

“Maybe I am the most-trained of all of us,” Pyrrha said, “but that is useless without drive. You have heart, Jaune. That alone is worth more than any number of years of rigorous lessons.”

“You’re the leader because Nora’s too disorganized, Pyrrha’s too polite, and I don’t like talking,” Ren added. “You get people better than any of us. You connect, you care, in a way that we can’t, don’t.”

Jaune stared at them all. Then he burst out laughing. At the puzzled stares he received, he finally managed to explain. “Look at us. We’re the weirdest team that could ever have been made, but somehow it works. Pyrrha’s famous for all the wrong reasons, Nora and Ren are weird soulmate-siblings that nobody understands and everybody is afraid of, and I can barely even dance but somehow I’m in charge.

“But – Pyrrha gives us experience. Nora gives us motivation. Ren gives us support. I give us –” he hesitated for a moment, then barreled on, “I give us connection. We’re scrap pieces stuck together. This shouldn’t work. But somehow – somehow it does.”

“Hell yeah it does!” Nora exclaimed loudly, startling the others and then being shushed before she could wake up the rest of the house. She continued a little more quietly, “We’re the best. We are.”

Jaune looked around at his amazing, patchwork team and thought, we really are.

* * *

_Make a Move_

The tournament was just as wild as the stories said. The warehouse was packed, the air vibrating with pulsing music. Junior’s voice boomed through the speakers, his two assistants keeping things moving with sharp gestures and sharper eyes. Teams went up against one another, some emerging as victors, others as losers, while the crowd cheered on.

RWBY had already won a versus, a battle against the DJ crew of all teams, calling themselves Funky. It had been a good dance, and both sides were impressed with the skill of the other. But RWBY’s variable members had brought all their versatility to the game, and they had prevailed. After, Penny had leapt into Ruby’s arms and knocked them both to the ground, and Sun had spun Blake around in the air before her girlfriend could steal her back for a victory kiss.

Caffeine’s rivals hadn’t stood a chance. They weren’t (in)famous for nothing. Older, stronger, better – Coco’s team had flattened the others. They, too, had variety, and now Coco stood to the side, watching, not even out of breath even though she had danced in high heels, her team surrounding her. Yatsuhashi towered over every single other person in the room, a mountain that could move as fast as lightning. Fox made up half of their team’s intimidation factor all on his own, stark scars lacing his dark skin and tracing over his muscles, pure white eyes boring into anyone who looked at them for too long even though he couldn’t possibly see them. Tiny Velvet sat on a support beam above them, feet bumping gently against Yatsuhashi’s shoulder, her cinnamon-colored hijab shimmering in the flash of her camera. All the official pictures of VYTAL would come from her, they always did. She could just capture the life of the competition.

Team Juniper had won a battle too, against a group that called themselves the Bronze Brawlers. To Juniper’s somewhat surprise, they had crushed them. It wasn’t that the others had been bad dancers, but – something about the space, about the environment, the energy, had driven Juniper to new heights. They had never danced so well.

Still, it had been a bit of a shock to hear their names being called as the victors. Jaune had never really won anything. Ren and Nora were used to going totally unnoticed. Pyrrha was used to winning, but not like this, not as a team. She was finding that she much preferred it to being held up on a pedestal above all others.  
So Juniper had won one battle, but the real test was only about to begin. Up next: Juniper vs. GRIMM.

The rival crew stood on the other side of the space. They were decked out in stark black and white, red accents catching the bad lighting of the warehouse. And, of course, they all had their customary masks blanking out their faces. In the light, it looked like they were wearing the skulls of dead monsters.

Standing across from them, Jaune couldn’t help but have a moment of doubt. Pyrrha was the only one in Juniper who had any real proper training. Jaune wasn’t even that good. Compared to the armor-like appearance of GRIMM, the aggression and intimidation radiating off them even from across the room, Jaune… wasn’t sure they were going to make it.

Then he looked at his team. Nora was bouncing on her tiptoes, staring hard at GRIMM’s Ursa with a look in her eyes like a cat about to pounce. Ren’s eyes were half-shut, looking relaxed but Jaune could feel the energy rippling beneath his skin, ready to burst forth. Pyrrha stood tall and strong, looking comfortable and confident despite the shouting. She caught his eye and smiled. She didn’t need to say anything.

So maybe they weren’t GRIMM. Maybe they weren’t so scary. Maybe they didn’t look like much (Pyrrha excused from that). It didn’t matter. They were Juniper. That was their advantage – they didn’t look like much, but they were good. So maybe they were the underdogs – that’s okay. Underdogs could win too.

The music started, and Juniper moved forward as one.

* * *

Later, everyone would agree that GRIMM had definitely cheated. Something had happened, and it just didn’t make sense to think that Pyrrha had fallen all by herself. Draco had been so close to her, and everybody knew that GRIMM was a dangerous team, and that they had had it out for Juniper from the start, but…

In the end, it didn’t matter. One moment everything was fine, details lost in the flickering lights and pulsing music, and the next Pyrrha was falling.

Pyrrha fell, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

She got back up. Never let it be said that Pyrrha Nikos gave anything up easily. She fell - fell hard - but she got back up amidst the gasps and cries and hushed whispers, leaning on Jaune and Ren as Nora stood like an unbreakable wall between them and the other team.

Pyrrha got up, and she kept dancing, but it was clear that it had been a bad fall. She tried her best, and her team was never so far away that they couldn’t be there to keep her from going down again, but it took a toll on their dancing. Pyrrha was still the best of the four, and without her and with the others distracted with worry, although they tried their hardest Juniper simply was not at its best.

GRIMM was. Maybe even better – they had tasted blood. And wounded prey was such a motivator.

It was clear that Junior didn’t like calling the fight. Nobody liked it, but it couldn’t be proven that GRIMM had interfered, couldn’t be proven that Draco had been the cause of Pyrrha’s fall. Things happened, even if this one was unlikely.

So Juniper lost. And GRIMM won.

*

They left after that. Not as sore losers, but because although Pyrrha had stood up, it was clear that she needed medical attention. Sun offered to drive them to Urgent Care despite the fact that he had come from halfway across the continent to see his childhood friend perform, but then one of the boys who had come along with him – Neptune? – interrupted and said that he would do it, and that Sun was going to stay and watch Blake beat the crap out of every other dancer here or so help him.

So Juniper made its way out of the crowded warehouse, heedless of the pitying stares and badly-hidden whispers. Pyrrha was walking mostly on her own, although Jaune did not leave her side and she sagged against him the moment they had left the building. Nora went ahead, clearing a path with hard stares and pointed elbows if the stare alone didn’t do the job. Ren followed the others, hyperaware of the exact locations of each member of GRIMM as they stood across the room, watching Juniper’s exit with masked-over eyes.

They learned the details of the rest of VYTAL from RWBY later. They learn that Caffeine, fueled by vengeance, crushed GRIMM in the next round. But they lost to a team led by a girl named Cinder who used fire in her dance and almost set the warehouse on fire in the process. It was a weird battle second only to Juniper’s fight with GRIMM. But they lost anyway, and Cinder’s smile at her team’s victory could have ignited a rainforest.

VYTAL was saved from the disaster that would have been Cinder’s championship by Team RWBY, which pulled itself out of the woodwork and won in the closest-contested battle of the tournament. It was, by all accounts, one of the most amazing dance battles that anyone present had ever seen.

**Author's Note:**

> title from P.O.S. and Mike Mictlan's Get Down
> 
> section lyrics from The Greatest (Sia), Crystals (Of Monsters and Men), Broken Glass (Sia), Make a Move (Icon for Hire)


End file.
